A Modest Proposal…Not

Eugene Volokh notes that Dean Chemerinsky’s proposal to make school funding equal by eliminating all private schooling options is one with implications:

A clearer example of how an excessive focus on equality undermines liberty is hard to find…. [Chemerinsky’s] argument …could apply to many things. For instance, if wealthy people know that…they will have to use public defenders, then they will be more likely to ensure adequate funding of public defenders….There goes the right to choose your own lawyer, together with the right to choose a school for your child.

Likewise, one can argue that public libraries are underfunded, too. Maybe people should be limited in the number of books they can own, so that they will have to go to the public library instead, and thus have an incentive to vote to fund the libraries….

And of course people in poor, high-crime neighborhoods often don’t get enough police protection, …How about this: Let’s bar people from buying private housing, and instead require people to live in housing units run and randomly assigned by the government. …

Ellipses mine. The reason to pay attention to academic nonsense like this is that this sort of thing can go straight from academia to a creative legislative or White House staffer’s brain. So it should be mocked early and often.

Think this couldn’t happen here? I used to think that school funding wouldn’t be “equalized” across my home state of Oregon, either, in the name of equality. Then it happened.

Anyway, read the whole thing, it’s quite instructive.

Posted in Academia and Other Nonsense, Order of the imperial upraised middle finger., The Government is Not Your Friend | Leave a comment

Even POS Rifles Are Sold Out?

I was musing last night about the injustice of Elijah Craig 18 being discontinued, and I thought about other things that might remain unavailable for some time. Even though buying into a panic is stupid, one can’t help but think: What is the hole in my collection?

Well, I have many holes, really, but one of them is that I don’t have a really cheap rifle. One you could feel comfortable leaving in your vehicle, but would still be accurate and powerful enough to be useful if, say, driving home through Oakland after an earthquake.

Having never been to a gun show, I’m unfamiliar with tomato-stake Mosins, but the price point sure seems right, and more importantly ammo is cheap, powerful and (I think) available.

Except they seem to be gone.

Wonder if this has anything to do with it:

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Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 13 Comments

Gun Show Blues

All the cool kids are blogging about the Indy 1500.

Sadly, I’ve never been to a gun show.

Happily, after a decade-plus-long convoluted court case that went all the way to the 9th Circuit three or four times (I lost count), we now can look forward to a gun show at the Alameda County Fairgrounds some time this Spring.

First one in more than thirteen years, folks.

Oh, yeah, and we won’t be having any negligent discharges, because per the court case, all of the guns in the show will be cabled to the tables. So there.

And yes, the judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just sort of assumed that all gun shows were conducted that way. You have been warned.

This being Alameda County, I expect that evil violence-sourced meat jerky products will be replaced by a more peacefully-harvested protein snack.

Spirulina algae is pretty good.

 

 

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel, Kewel! | 4 Comments

When is a tax increase NOT a tax increase?

When you’re the new Governor of Washington State.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee pivoted Thursday on his campaign pledge not to increase taxes, saying that extending existing taxes due to expire next year would not break his promise.

Inslee said during his first news conference as governor that he’s open to extending a business and occupation tax and a beer tax, which could raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two years.

He also discussed possible legislation dealing with gun violence.

While running against GOP candidate Rob McKenna last year, Inslee said, “I would veto anything that heads the wrong direction and the wrong direction is new taxes in the state of Washington.”

The key word in that promise is “new.”

Referring to a possible extension, Inslee said, “these do not increase taxes. They do not raise taxes on people over the existing level being paid today. Since they do not increase taxes, they are not a tax increase.”

Must be nice being able to redefine words and all. If you know of someone who voted for this idiot, let them know he works from a different dictionary that the rest of us and then laugh at them. Hopefully, at least a few Inslee voters will get bitten in the ass by this. Also hopefully, a few of them will learn their lesson.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 1 Comment

They’re putting GPS on everything these days

They’re even GPS tracking trees?

But trees don’t move, you say?

Yes, they do. In Germany.

With snow blanketing the ground, it’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up in front of a fireplace. That, though, makes German foresters nervous. When the mercury falls, the theft of wood in the country’s woodlands goes up as people turn to cheaper ways to heat their homes.

“The forest is open for everyone to enter and people just think they can help themselves, but they can’t!” says Enno Rosenthal, head of the forest farmers association in the northeastern German state of Brandenburg. “Naturally, those log piles belong to someone and there is a lot of money and work that goes into them.” The problem has been compounded this winter by rising energy costs. The Germany’s Renters Association estimates the heating costs will go up 22 percent this winter alone.

…..

In the western German city of Hessisch Lichtenau other foresters are taking a more extreme approach, according to local daily the Hessische/Niedersächsische Allegemeine. In recent years, two major tree heists have taken place in town and the state experiences losses of millions of euros as a result. The paper reports that now some foresters are outfitting log piles with GPS devices to track thieves.

Yet another “unexpected” result of Green Energy policies. It is only “unexpected” if you don’t bother to think about it beforehand.

Posted in The Global Warming Death Cult | 1 Comment

And here’s how not to win a gun rights debate

Listen to Gene Hoffman’s masterful job linked in the post below, and then compare it with NRA-ILA’s Director of Media Affairs Andrew Arulanandam’s utterly cringe-worthy performance on a (thankfully low-listenership) radio talk show (interview starts at about 4 minutes in).

For just one example, there are many good responses to “why does anyone need a high-capacity magazine?” and dodging the question and running away is not one of them.

 

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel, Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 1 Comment

If you listen to one thing this weekend…

…listen to this.

This is how you win a gun rights debate.

UPDATE: Link fixed, sorry!

 

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel, Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | 5 Comments

Take your booger hook off of the bang switch

Del. Joe Morrissey, D-Henrico, holds up an AK47-style rifle as he speaks for more control on such weapons during a floor speech to the Virginia House of Delegates at the State Capitol in Richmond, Va. Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bob Brown)

Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, interrupted Morrissey’s speech to ask him to take his finger off the trigger lock…

I am not sure what a trigger lock is, but I am glad that someone in the Assembly noticed his poor handling of a supposed “unloaded” mass baby killer. I doubt that Delegate Morrissey would have a clue how to check if the AK was loaded.

I am surprised that this (unloaded) weapon didn’t just go off and kill everyone in the room, since it is so dangerous and it’s only purpose is to kill people.

Posted in Dare To Be Stupid, Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Government is Not Your Friend, The Left is Never Right, Useful Idiots | 2 Comments

Good guys – Guns = Safer?

New CenturyLink gun policy riles law enforcement

CenturyLink management has decided that off-duty officers going to events at CenturyLink as fans can no longer bring guns through the gates.

As an alum of the University of Washington, I have season tickets for football. We played the 2011 Apple Cup and the 2012 season at CenturyLink Field, as the UW is renovating Husky Stadium. I carried my Glock 26 at every game. I do not go into mass crowds without it. At the 2011 Apple Cup, security was actually “wanding” people. I didn’t notice until it was too late for me to turn back. So the minimum-wage temp agency employee (that’s who actually works “event security”) ran the wand on my right hip and it flashed red. He waved me through, as he had done to the hundreds of others in his line.

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Posted in Dare To Be Stupid, Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 6 Comments

Me and the police

I awoke this morning to someone pounding on the front door. As I was trying to wrangle the barking dogs, I heard from the other side, “Police. Open the door.” I do as instructed, while my wife handles the dogs.

“Who wants to pay the $124 fine?” says the officer.

Being that I am only half awake, I give him a very confused look.

He raises his voice and changes his tone saying, “In (my city) it is illegal to leave an unattended car running. We have already had nine cars reported stolen today. How long have I been sitting out here?”

Again, I give a confused look.

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Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger., The Government is Not Your Friend | 6 Comments